Nerd Nite

November’s Nerd Nite will start with Gigi Melone and a group of “Insect Ambassadors” from UW-Madison’s Entomology department. It’s about time we gave bugs some love! Shawn Steffan and Jacki Whisenant are your two Insect Ambassadors. Shawn will be discussing the power of insect-microbe symbioses through deep evolutionary time, using bees, leaf-cutter ants, and bark beetles as examples! Jacki Whisenant will be taking us behind the scenes at the UW Zoology Museum and their flesh-eating beetle colony!

Next up is Whitney Thompson, giving a talk about the “Taylor Swift” of the 1800s: Under the nom de plume of Claribel, Charlotte Alington Barnard (1830-1869) published over 100 songs between 1859 and 1869, mostly in the sentimental- or drawing-room-ballad genre. Despite the domesticity suggested by the genre’s name, her songs were so popular that they escaped the drawing room and became staples not just of amateur music societies, but also of large public concerts. However, with her success came a fierce backlash from the trade press. Publications like The Orchestra and The Athenaeum decried the profusion of “Claribel-ware,” occasionally outright calling the music “trash” and particularly protesting the nascent royalty system in which Claribel took part. Her career may have only lasted a decade, but Claribel was nonetheless at the forefront of some massive changes in both the business and culture of music.

Last up is Kevin Bachhuber, who has a different angle on insect appreciation: food! He founded the US’s first FDA inspected human food grade insect farm, and continues to work in the industry today.